Following the resounding protest vote by shareholders unhappy with the prospect of reappointing James Murdoch to the board of News Corp (Investors take issue with Murdoch's son), the Financial Times observed that investors' ire was not driven by the unfolding scandal of phone hacking, but instead signalled their dissatisfaction with the the control exercised by the Murdoch family.

Following news that the BBC intends radically to prune its online empire from 400 to 200 websites (BBC to shed 360 staff in online revamp), the FT observed: "By ruling out involvement in publishing local listings, social networking or music streaming, the BBC is for the first time attempting to create clear limits for its online ambitions."

Ian Maude was asked for his view. He said: “Even with its wings clipped, the BBC is going to be the biggest online news and long-form [online] video provider in the UK", and he added: “A lot of the cuts are symbolic – all the key sites will continue. Getting rid of a half of their domains does not equate to [losing] half their traffic. It will have a much smaller impact than the figures suggest.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/db20cfba-27ac-11e0-a327-00144feab49a.html#axz…

Research published by Enders Analysis on the growth of mobile advertising was featured prominently by the Financial Times (UK mobile phone ads set for rapid growth). Emphasising the potential for rapid take-off, Enders Analysis concluded that “The difference now is that the explosion in smartphone sales and even faster growth in mobile internet usage is driving commensurate growth in advertising inventory”, and predicted that mobile advertising will make up 4 per cent of the total online ad market in 2011, reaching 9.5 per cent by 2015.

Following an intervention by the Labour spokesman on media, Ivan Lewis MP (Labour warns Hunt on News Corp), in which he linked the evidence of phone hacking and the erosion of media plurality, the FT concluded that opposition to the News Corp bid for outright control of BSkyB would coalesce around the paramount issue of protecting the public interest.

Commenting on reports of private discussions between News Corp and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the FT suggested that the former intends to offer concessions, such as the disposal of Sky News, in order to convince the minister, Jeremy Hunt, that it would be unnecessary to follow Ofcom's recommendation and refer the bid to the Competition Commission.

In an article which shed light on confidential discussions between the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and News Corp, triggered by its bid to acquire full control of BSkyB, (News Corp raises prospect of selling Sky News), the FT revealed that News Corp is keen to avoid a lengthy investigation by the Competition Commission, in the public interest, and is prepared to make significant concessions, such as the disposal of Sky News.

Following Ofcom's decision in the public interest to investigate the adverse effects of a loss of broadcasting plurality, and issue an invitation to comment on News Corporation's bid for British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB warns watchdog over News Corp bid), the FT reported that the broadcaster's independent directors have warned the regulator of a “perverse outcome” if it found that a deal would seriously curtail diversity for UK viewers. Chris Goodall was asked for his view.

Following the announcement by the BBC that it intends to build on the popularity of the iPlayer by launching an international version of the video-on-demand service as an application for the Apple iPad (BBC picks iPad for iPlayer global launch), the FT asked Benedict Evans for his view.

Heralding the simultaneous launch by Rupert Murdoch and Sir Richard Branson of iPad-only publications (Why the iPad should rival the web), the FT suggested that both announcements simply reflected a "bigger debate about whether companies are balkanising the web to gain economic leverage".

The FT argued that a tablet "restores the advantage of depth over breadth" and in making use of such technology "an edited in-depth publication has a better chance of competing with the atomised, open-source information flow of the open web". However, the article conceded that many people are happy to live in the world of free, distributed information and will prefer it. Benedict Evans was asked for his view. He said: “If you think that the day of the editor deciding what you read today is dead then these apps will fall apart.”

Following Virgin Media's announcement that it will provide its customers with a new set-top box which would combine the internet and television on one screen (Virgin boss boasts better TV than Sky), the FT observed that "rivals including BSkyB and YouView, are rushing out similar services, but Virgin said its offering was the first of scale".

Having warned that questions would be asked over the reliability of the technology, as "Virgin has had problems over customer service" the FT asked Toby Syfret for his view. He said: “This is a chance to produce something that is user friendly and encourages video usage... But seeing is believing, so we will have to wait to see if it works.”

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3975a6f8-fd3c-11df-b83c-00144feab49a.html#axz…

In an article which revealed that Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary has told BT that the government would not provide it with a “blank cheque” (BT warned over broadband funds) the FT explained that a fund of £830m (drawn from the BBC licence fee over the next seven years) will be made available to extend the high-speed broadband network. Although the fund is open to other broadband operators, BT claims that the fund would enable it to extend its high-speed network to 90 per cent of UK homes. BT is spending £2.5bn on its network to reach two thirds of homes by 2015.

Ian Watt was asked for his view. He said that he expected BT to be the company that secures the largest portion of the £830m, partly because it was best placed to provide significant additional funds of its own to expand superfast broadband to rural areas.